A couple of people lately have commented about warmups and cooldowns when exercising dogs. I used to be an athlete and never really did serious warmups or cooldowns myself... but with the plethora of ACL and other tears, I'm wondering how important that really is for dogs. I don't really work Ruby beyond fetch (shorter sprints in backyard or longer runs at the park onlead) - but we do usually just go out the back door and start playing fetch. And post playing, Ruby comes in and plops her panting self on the cool floor, which I have wondered about being less than ideal for cooldown. What are your thoughts?

Thanks guys - yeah, GSD, your recent posts are what prompted my thoughts on this one... I hate thought of taking an extra 2 walks around the block before and after workouts... (we do our regular walking in the morning...)

With Keela, I do a 10-20 minute mill session(with her stopping at points and/or changing speeds) then I do a 10 minute flirt pole session afterward(darting, jumping ect). Then she walks/trots around the yard for about 15 minutes before going into the house for a rest.

I hope that counts. She'll be 5 in February and has been doing this for about 2 years - no injuries yet.

This makes perfect sense to me as I myself am an athlete but to be honest I never though about it for my dogs. Thanks for this. Also GSDbulldog, you wrote about post workout supplement. What do you give your dogs? I have been thinking about feeding part of the dogs meal straight after a heavy session in an attempt to boost recovery. As you would with a human. Maybe some chicken and rice? What are your thoughts about food after the cooldown? Anyone?

Loki wrote:This makes perfect sense to me as I myself am an athlete but to be honest I never though about it for my dogs. Thanks for this. Also GSDbulldog, you wrote about post workout supplement. What do you give your dogs? I have been thinking about feeding part of the dogs meal straight after a heavy session in an attempt to boost recovery. As you would with a human. Maybe some chicken and rice? What are your thoughts about food after the cooldown? Anyone?

When I am working a dog for a show, I give amino acid supplements to aid recovery, pre and post work out. They're human grade, but as far as dog supplements- I hear good things about K9 Super Fuel and RF-1.

I feed post work out as well, but 45 minutes to an hour after wards. Generally, when the dog has cooled down completely. You risk bloat (Or, at the very least, an upset stomach) when feeding a dog directly after a work-out session. I also restrict heavy water consumption for a few minutes, or until the dog is not panting nearly as hard.

We also integrate stretching with our dogs. A series of bending through command or manipulation. Put the dog in a sit and guide a treat above the head and behind the ears requiring the dog to stretch the neck/stomach. Then the same but opposite, treat at the chest/stomach in a sit will stretch the back of the neck and back. Then working on tight left and right turn circles. Then physically manipulating the knee/hip into a stretch out and crunch in, same for front legs.

We just do a basic jog aside from this.

A rule in Schutzhund and Flyball is you run the dog to the field and off. It's never a long jog but it moves the muscles a bit so they don't come out of their boxes at full tilt. (Yeah.. this doesn't work with dogs who'll go full tilt no matter what )

After racing, typically we take the dogs out side for a short walk. Come back in and offer plain or baited water and continue to let them slow down their panting. We offer the 'sauce within 10 minutes of racing.

Warm-up time is just a couple of minutes of jogging and some tugging. I do have Hank bind and turn by doing some flirt pole type movements with his tug while we're waiting for his race.

Mine get a little warm up and down masage before they work.I also make them do stretches themselves,by spinning left and right,doing a beg,a tiptoe,(which is the one Sarah is teaching above)lol at Tess Mookie beg.

steve is just getting back into flyball following an iliopsoas (groin) pull, so warming up and stretching is at the very forefront of my mind (not that i didn't greatly enjoy 5 months of drastically restricted young border collie). i take him out early and trot him in circles in both directions for a few minutes to warm him up. sports vet does not like passive stretches except at the very end of the day after the racing is done. she wants all active stretching where the dog is offering the stretch- bending around to take a cookie from each hip (or just a hand target), paws up on my belly to stretch, and bow (we haven't mastered that one on command yet- especially at a place like a flyball tournament!).

elegy wrote:steve is just getting back into flyball following an iliopsoas (groin) pull, so warming up and stretching is at the very forefront of my mind (not that i didn't greatly enjoy 5 months of drastically restricted young border collie). i take him out early and trot him in circles in both directions for a few minutes to warm him up. sports vet does not like passive stretches except at the very end of the day after the racing is done. she wants all active stretching where the dog is offering the stretch- bending around to take a cookie from each hip (or just a hand target), paws up on my belly to stretch, and bow (we haven't mastered that one on command yet- especially at a place like a flyball tournament!).

Could you clarify a little more, the distinction between active and passive stretching. Thank you, I'm just dense.

Now, you all have cool sports dogs.... Ruby aparently has HD - I'm going to reconfirm this with the new vet, so I we just play fetch for exercise until she stops - would you do all of this stretching and cooling down for that or are you coming from heavy sporting perspectives with your replies?